Month: November 2018

The Human Rights Section of ISA invites applications for the first annual Chandra Sriram Human Rights Section Global South Travel Grant. This is a competitive grant based on merit and need intended to assist scholars with accepted papers at ISA 2019 with expenses related to attending the convention in Toronto. Applicants must be members of the Human Rights Section and be working or studying at an academic or policy institution in the Global South. We define “Global South” as defined by the ISA Global South Caucus Charter, Art. 4, section 5ai, which includes: Latin America and the Caribbean, South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East/North Africa and developing Eurasia.

We welcome applications from students, faculty and practitioners. We particularly welcome applications from graduate students and/or early career scholars. The selection committee reserves the right to award more than one grant in a given year, or not to award a grant if no suitable applications are received.

To apply please submit the following as a single pdf attachment:

• Name, title, institutional affiliation and contact information
• CV
• Accepted abstract for ISA 2019
• 300 word statement addressing the following:
  • How will this award enhance your research or career trajectory?
  • Have you applied for an ISA Travel Grant?
  • Describe your efforts to secure support from your home institution and external grant support
  • Indicate how much financial support you are requesting (up to a maximum of $500)

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

All application materials should be e-mailed in one file directly to the chair of the Grant Committee, Dr. Bethany Barratt, before midnight Eastern time on December 10, 2018. The committee will make its decision as soon as possible and the awardee will be informed of their award on or before January 30, 2018.

Source: https://www.isanet.org/Programs/Awards/Sriram-HR-Grant

I first met Chandra in October 2010, on our first day as new members of staff at SOAS, University of London – together with Amanda Perry-Kessaris. The three of us immediately bonded over the slightly haphazard induction to a new workplace, and Chandra continued to provide droll commentary on the ups and downs of working at SOAS. She was a firm and principled colleague – and a great companion to share cocktails with. Reading the other testimonials reinforces my sense of Chandra’s capacity for deep and sustained friendships, and also how committed she was to supporting – and bringing the best out in – others’ research.

Amanda and I have had an exotic cocktail in Chandra’s honour and memory, which we hope she would approve.

Diamond Ashiagbor

Chandra was one of the most giving people I ever worked with – always keen to read a draft, organise a panel, involve you in a grant application, assemble an edited collection – thankless roles that benefited others. She was generous and gregarious – always in the thick of the action (long after the conference had ended and the real conversations started in some dingy bar in Nairobi, Sarajevo or east London). Her warmth and zest and love of community will be massively missed. 

Phil Clark

I met Chandra in our very first days of law school. I was part of a nerdy group of young women, who took law school and the politics of law school and, for me, awakening into a new kind of academic experience very, very seriously. Chandra moved on the edges of our little clan, standing out for many reasons. It wasn’t just the crazy hair or velvet purses or the scandalous leggings that said “f—k” all over them, worn to seminars taught by storied old men. It wasn’t just that she was so young (I remember after our final first-semester exam, we couldn’t go to a bar for drinks; Chandra may have already had a master’s from Chicago, but she wasn’t yet old enough to drink legally). What made her stand out most was that while she was serious, she didn’t take the crazy, artificial self-importance of law school seriously. She was going to engage with it on her own terms, and call bullshit when she saw it.

I love that about her. I think one facet of her bullshit intolerance became her complaining shtick, one she elevated to near high-art stand-up comedy. Another was channeled into battles with academic bureaucracy. But most was channeled into her work. It didn’t feel from the outside like a passion so much as an innate drive to do the work she was doing. I simply can’t imagine her doing anything else.

I’m still haven’t fully absorbed that she’s gone. I’ll miss the wonderful conversations, hearing about her impossibly life-absorbing work. I’ll miss visiting her in London, where she always took such wonderful care of me: took me to the best food shopping, the latest restaurants, cooking together for and with her always-amazing friends (Wayne, remember that meal so beautiful we photographed it, years before that was a thing?) the nights out. I never felt so cosmopolitan as when I was with her.

Her intensity. Her silliness and irreverence. The eyebrow arched over the rim of the martini glass. I will miss her so, once her departure becomes real to me.

Elizabeth

The Editorial Board of Peacebuilding is very saddened by the passing of Chandra Lekha Sriram. Chandra was a much valued colleague, contributor, and friend to many of us and always impressed with her academic brilliance. She will be greatly missed professionally and personally.